We didn't invent the weather (God did that)....just the weather blog...

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tornado Reported Near Haskell, OK

***Update 9:19 PM CDT: The circulation has reorganized and strengthened again, and is now located just East of Wagoner. The storm is moving East/Northeast at 40 mph, and if you live in rural areas to the East/Northeast of Wagoner and over toward and South of Peggs, seek shelter from this storm as a tornado could develop again at any time. Damage has taken place further West back toward Haskell from this storm and associated tornadoes.

***Update 9:10 PM CDT: Radar indicates that the circulation associated with the tornado that just moved through the Haskell area has weakened considerably in the last 10-15 minutes. It is currently located just North/Northeast of Porter, and is moving East/Northeast at 35 mph.

If you live in Wagoner or up toward Peggs, remain alert as this storm could still reorganize again and produce another tornado threat.

-----------------------------------------Original Post:

Spotters report a tornado near Haskell. Radar is now indicating a debris ball (as noted by the white circle on the image below). This is a very dangerous situation. If you live in Redbird, Porter, or Tullahassee and Okay, seek immediate shelter.

15 comments:

I am also hearing reports of significant damage in Haskell on emergency scanners. We were detecting a debris ball on radar suggesting substantial debris was being lifted aloft by the tornado when it went through the Haskell area.

I have family there as well. Phone and cell lines are down in the area with very little communication in or out except by HAM radio at this time.

I just saw media video going down the "main drag" in Haskell, and there were lots of trees and power lines down and windows broken, but I didn't see very much in the way of structural damage.

They did not venture into town, and by radar it would appear that the South and East sides of town would have had the highest impact. I believe the scanner reports of more significant damage I'm hearing are Southeast of town.

Hopefully the city has fared better than it sounds at this time, we'll have to see what the light of day reveals.

Haskell is not destroyed. I just got a hold of my friends and family who live there. The popshop lost its canopy and I think Subway got hit, but its not as bad as it sounded and it seems like everyone is ok.

Viola, thanks for the information. It was apparently worse just south and southwest of town. Emergency Managers are asking for heavy equipment to remove debris in that area. I have not heard of any casualties, hopefully there will not be any.

Haha - no sipping beverages. More like corralling bored, sweaty kiddos in a very HOT shelter. But I shouldn't complain. We were safe and sound. We did take cover for that Haskell storm, as it set off the alarms in South Broken Arrow where we were.

Rob, as always, thank you for your superb coverage of these storms! Many thoughts and prayers for your family in the area. I did see a news report from Haskell, they were showing that Subway that Viola mentioned.

There are quite a few empty and abandoned houses in Haskell, especially on that side of town. I'm hoping the leveled house your talking about was one of those. The thing is Haskell people don't tend to take the sirens very seriously because they use them all the time, or snakes get in. My dad's best friend works for the city and he kept complaining about the snakes setting the sirens off. Good thing it wasn't too serious. My friend just texted me telling there are a bunch of fire trucks out front of the popshop because apparently there is a gas leak now.

Thanks for the info. I think the phone lines were jammed (understandibly) there for awhile which created some confusion. There were also some flat out bad reports transmitted by HAM radio operators, which usually are pretty reliable. I think "Joplin Sendrome" had set in and a lot of folks were panicking.

Without a doubt, there was a significant debris ball just South and Southeast of Haskell for a time on radar (see the images in the post). Some type of debris (could have been a signficant amount of trees or other non-structural matter) was certainly being carried aloft by the tornado at that time. Thankfully it appears not to have been a lot of folks' homes.

Shamrock, thunderstorms that form well to your West this afternoon could make it into your area later this evening or tonight. That's why you were in the slight risk area (although it's been trimmed back a bit on this morning's update). We'll have to see how organized the activity gets over middle & western Tennessee today and how it progresses Eastward.

Well, I hope they don't....so far so good. They haven't updated us yet and I hope it stays that way. We are under chance of severe tomorrow but I think damaging winds are the main threat. I don't want one single part of this storm in the West, though....